Briefly

Doueck, Smyth named associate deans in social work
Howard J. Doueck and Nancy J. Smyth, faculty members in the Graduate School of Social Work, have been appointed associate deans by Dean Lawrence Shulman.

Doueck has been named associate dean for research and program development, a new position, and Smyth has been named associate dean for academic affairs.

Professor and chair of the child welfare services concentration, Doueck joined the UB social work faculty in 1986. Much of his research has focused on child protection, child abuse and neglect. He has authored or co-authored numerous publications in the field, including a recent book on mandated reporting.

A UB social work faculty member since 1991, Smyth serves as associate professor and chair of the concentration in alcohol/other drug problems.

She also is an associate research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) and a clinical social worker with Kent E. Bath & Associates in Amherst.

Her research has been primarily in the areas of suicidal behaviors; dual disorders, such as co-existing substance abuse and mental health problems, and, most recently, trauma and addiction. Smyth has published in numerous professional journals and authored or co-authored multiple chapters in professional texts.

Alumni Association to host Italian wine and food festival
The UB Alumni Association will host a celebration of the rebirth of spring with an Italian Renaissance Wine and Food Festival, to be held from 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Atrium of the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

The festival will feature an array of 50 fine Italian wines, accompanied by an extravagant presentation of carefully matched cuisine from Northern, Central and Southern Italy. Six experts on Italian wine will be in attendance to answer questions and offer advice.

The evening will be co-sponsored by the Premier Group and Leonardo LoCascio, chief executive officer of Winebow, Inc., a leading importer of Italian wines.

Cost of the festival is $45 per person for alumni association members and up to three guests; $55 per person for the general public. For more information, or to make reservations, call 829-2608.

Mighty Mighty Bosstones to headline Spring Fest
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, an original ska-rock band, will headline Spring Fest, to be held Saturday from mid-afternoon until 11 p.m. at Baird Point. In case of inclement weather, the event will be staged inside Alumni Arena. Spring Fest, presented by the University Union Activities Board and the undergraduate Student Association, is free to UB students, $10 to all others.

The Bosstones are on their fifth album, "Let's Face It," which showcases their musical depth and range, from purest ska to melodic punk pop to the hyperactive hybrid that fans have come to cherish. Their performance is expected to begin about 9 p.m.

Other artists to appear will be George Clinton & The P-Funk All Stars, a 20-member band whose performance encompasses jazz, blues, rap with a heavy dose of funk, R&B and rock. Opening Spring Fest is Latin star Tito Puente, whose career has been celebrated with four Grammys and hit albums.

Air Force Band, Singing Sergeants to perform May 12
The United States Air Force Concert Band and the 24-voice chorus, the Singing Sergeants, will give a free concert on May 12 at 7 p.m. in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts. The 65-member band performs popular favorites and light classics, as well as classical works.

The Singing Sergeants perform opera, traditional and contemporary choral literature, folk songs, pop, musical theater and jazz. Tickets can be picked up at the Center for the Arts box office.

Honors Program to sponsor concert by Michael Chilungu
The University Honors Program will sponsor a concert at 5 p.m. on Sunday in Baird Recital Hall for pianist Michael Chilungu, a senior in the Honors Program and a performance major in the Department of Music. The concert, which will include works by Haydn, Rachmaninoff, Dett, Taylor-Coleridge and Liszt, will be free and open to the public.

Chilungu, a student of Frina Arschanska Boldt, associate professor of music, was accepted in 1996 into the School of Medicine and Biomedical Science's Early Assurance Program. He has contributed to a number of university events, such as the Martin Luther King gala in 1995 and the African American Festival, and has appeared in numerous concerts as a soloist and with chamber groups.

Following his admission into medical school, he has pursued a special major, integrating courses from English literature, Judaic Studies and piano performance. His two final projects include Sunday's concert and a thesis written under the tutelage of Leslie Fiedler, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Samuel L. Clemens Professor of English. Chilungu is currently researching a repertoire of African American composers, which will be released on a CD.

Pathfinders Awards honor three for efforts to improve student life
Two members of the Student Affairs staff and a student have been honored for their efforts to enhance the quality of student life.

They are the recipients of the Pathfinders Awards, a new initiative of the Division of Student Affairs to identify and recognize faculty, staff and student employees of the division who have developed new programs that help UB work better, faster or cheaper for students.

Garry Soehner, associate director for personnel, and Preston Niland, assistant director for residential life, were honored for developing the "Steps to Fitness" program, which offers students living in the Ellicott Complex an on-site fitness program that emphasizes proper nutrition and consistent participation in exercise.

Denisse Carmona, a junior majoring in women's studies, early childhood education and Spanish, was honored for her efforts to establish a recycling program in two South Campus residence halls. Large bins were set up on the ground floor of Goodyear Hall and on the first floor of Clement Hall to make it more convenient for residents, resulting in a 95 percent increase in recycling.

Final issue of semester is May 21
The Reporter will publish its final issue of the Spring semester on May 21. Monthly Summer issues will be published on June 18 and July 23. Weekly publication will resume on Aug. 27.

Graduation, Student Honors for the Reporter's annual Commencement Extra
The Reporter will publish its annual "Commencement Extra" edition on May 14. If you have not done so already, please send lists of students receiving graduation or other honors, identifying honors concisely. Information must be received no later than tomorrow.

Because of production requirements, the Reporter only will accept information electronically. No fax submissions will be accepted. Information may be submitted on disk, specifying the program in which it is written and including a printout of all information contained on the disk, or by e-mail: reporter@ubnews.buffalo.edu

All submissions must include a contact name, department, campus address and daytime telephone number. Disks may be delivered to 136 Crofts Hall, North Campus. For more information, call Christine Vidal, Reporter editor, at 645-2626.

Scales-Trent gives endowed lecture at Tulane University
Judy Scales-Trent, professor of law, presented the McGlinchey Lecture last month at Tulane Law School, New Orleans. Her topic was "The Federal Courts and the Great American Racial Divide."

The McGlinchey Lecture is one of six endowed lectures being given at Tulane this year, with speakers including Erwin Chemerinsky, Legion Lex Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Southern California Law School; criminal and civil trial lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., and W. Michael Reisman, Hohfield Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School.

Scales-Trent, who was a civil rights lawyer in Washington for 10 years, is the author of the widely celebrated book, "Notes of a White Black Woman: Race, Color, Community." Her extensive public lectures focus on the intersection of race and gender in American law, as well as on law and literature, and cultural pluralism.

Braun, Finnegan to give program for Polish American Day
A presentation by Kazimierz Braun, professor of theatre and dance, will highlight the celebration on Sunday of Polish-American Day and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Adam Mickiewicz, Poland's foremost romantic poet by the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo.

The program, which will be co-sponsored by the International Artistic and Cultural Exchange Program of the Center for the Arts, will be held at 2 p.m. in the Screening Room of the Center for the Arts. It is free and open to the public.

Braun, a native of Poland, had a distinguished academic and theatrical career there before coming to UB in 1987 to head the acting program. He will present "Mickiewicz's Forefather's Eve, A Historical Icon of Polish Patriotism," recounting and enlarging upon the patriotic verse drama portraying the suffering of Poland during the time of its partition. Dramatic readings of translated passages of the drama also will be given by Gerald Finnegan, assistant professor of Theatre and Dance and a noted local actor.

Karrer SEFA Golf Classic is June 25
The John G. Karrer SEFA Golf Classic will be held June 25 at Bryncliff Resort and Conference Center, Humphrey Road and Rt. 20A in Varysburg. Honoring the memory of the late John G. Karrer, who was assistant vice president and director of student finances at UB before his death in 1997, the golf classic will be presented by the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Office of the Associate Vice President and Controller.

Cost of the tournament is $65, which will include 18 holes of golf with cart, a deluxe buffet with beverages following the tournament and hot dog and beverage on the ninth hole. Prizes for the Hole in One contest include $10,000 cash, a set of irons and a two-day golf package, as well as other prizes. Checks for the tourney, payable to SUNY at Buffalo, are due by June 1.

For more information, call Sharon Myers at 829-2924 or Debbie Morris at 829-2361.

Call for University Commencement 1998
Undergraduate candidates in the faculties of Arts and Letters, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences and Special and Individualized Majors are urged to register now to participate in University Commencement on May 17.

The ceremony will take place in Alumni Arena at 10 a.m. Forms are available on the North Campus in the University Commencement Office at 537 Capen Hall and at the Information Desk in the Student Union. The final deadline for registering has been extended. Only students registered are eligible to participate. Questions can be directed to the Commencement Office at 645-3414.

Candidates scheduled to graduate with other academic units should consult with the appropriate commencement coordinator about specific registration procedures.

Pharmacy Alumni Association to host reunion conference
The School of Pharmacy Alumni Association will offer a three-part conference on Friday and Saturday as part of its 1998 Spring Reunion Weekend Program.The session on Friday, "The Pharmacist's Role in Weight-Loss Management," will run from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Buffalo/Niagara Marriott, 1340 Millersport Highway, Amherst. It will be followed by a Spring Reunion Kick-Off Party.

The Saturday program will begin with registration and continental breakfast at 8:45 a.m. in 121 Cooke Hall, North Campus. The first session, "Altering the Clinical Course of Heart Failure: Advances in Treatment Options," will be held from 9:30-10:30 a.m. "An Update on the Management of Chronic Pain Syndromes" will be held from 10:45-11:45 a.m.

Researcher's work with children lives on in new support fund
It was the focus of the late Jack Weber's professional life that every child isolated from the world by a speech or communication problem should get the best possible treatment to break down those barriers.

To continue his work, the Jack Weber Graduate Award in Communicative Disorders and Sciences has been established at UB with a $10,000 gift from his wife, Susan Weber. It will provide annual support for a graduate-student research project in child language disorders.

"This fund, and the work that will come out of it, will promote Jack's wish that children get the best possible services for their needs, and that they have a chance to be part of a normal, everyday life," said Judith Duchan, a friend of Weber who is professor and chair in the UB Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences.

Weber was among the first group of doctoral students to graduate from the department in 1967.

While at UB, Weber broke new ground in diagnosing and treating children's speech disorders and conducted one of the earliest studies of children's problems with pronunciation, showing that such problems are linguistically based. That study shifted views of child language disorders from a medial perspective to a psycholinguistic one.

After graduation, Weber taught at Ithaca College and Northeastern University. He spent the bulk of his career working at research labs and treatment centers in the United States and Canada.

At the time of his death in 1997, he was working in Toronto.